Tourists travelling to Frankfurt are soon going to be compelled to shell out a new ‘tourist tax’ if they decide to stay overnight in this beautiful city of Germany.
The charges imposed would be two euros per night while staying inside an accommodation like hostels, hotels and also private apartments with providers like Airbnb. But then tourists residing inside the city for work purpose would be exempt from this tax.
It is hoped that the new tourist tax would pool in as much as €5 million a year to the city, as per Uwe Becker who is the city treasurer of Frankfurt.
The tax is like to be introduced by 1st January 2018 after it is approved officially by the Municipal Assembly. It would be decided by an advisory council, with three members of the Magistrate and one representative of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, The Hotel Catering Association in Frankfurt as well as the Tourism and Congress Society.
Last June the idea was proposed by the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Uwe Becker also agreed and stated that it is a fair price to encourage tourists to pay and said that it is truly necessary to do so to keep the place attractive and generate resources.
The vice president of the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Thomas Reichert said that they were content with the way the levy would be introduced as long as the proceeds are poured into the tourism industry. An estimated number of Frankfurt visitors would be eligible to pay the new tax especially those who opt for an overnight stay.
Tourism sector of Germany is expected to witness a rise from 8.8 million to 9 million.
However Frankfurt is not actually the first German city to impose a tourist tax as Hamburg had thought about imposing a ‘culture and tourism’ tax about four years ago.
The government of Germany is optimistic that the new tourist tax would pour in an overwhelming €11 million euros per year to the regional economy.
